1950-1960s Cold War Propaganda Impact and McCarthyism - Essay Example

1950-1960’s Cold War Propaganda impact and McCarthyism Cold War refers to the period of political clashes, military pressures and rivalry among different economies. It started at the end of World War II with the doubt between western democracies and the Soviet Union since the Russian Revolution. It all began when the former World War II associates of United States, Britain and France connected with the White Russians to battle with the Bolsheviks after the revolution. Despite the failure of the intrusion and the Securing of power of the new Soviet State by the Red Army of the Bolsheviks by the Red Army of the new Soviet States, the young Soviet States never trusted the Western Democracies. The supposed or actual risk to the Western way of life was countered by communism. The worry expressed by people in the East especially the Russians about the panic of being violated by the West did more to fuel the animosities leading to the cold war. Conversely, a phenomenon known as McCarthyism surfaced in American politics soon after the Second World War. This phenomenon was the practice of investigating and laying accusations on powerful individuals. These were careless accusations levelled at the government because many people believed the government was full of communists. McCarthyism is associated with two major Republicans, Senator Joseph McCarthy and Richard Nixon. The impacts of McCarthyism and Cold War were melodramatic since the proponents were During the World War in 1943, Roosevelt and Stalin met in order to form a safe post-war world. Their strategies focused on Germany and hardly mentioned the Balkans. This caused conclusions about the Balkans to be made basing on the instant set circumstances instead of lasting strategic plans (Hixson, 161). This kind of unplanned approach resulted into disagreements. The Big Tree also arranged for a corresponding post-war security structure and decided that a significant part was establishing democratic governments in the conquered states. The Western kind of parliamentary style protected by the United Nations was considered by the Western powers. On the contrary, Stalin understood democratic in his own way. According to him, the Soviet security needed Russian support of any post-war regime in Eastern Europe (Hixson, 161). The essential dispute basing on this matter was never settled. The war over armed force happened to be at the lead where in the same year, the British attempted to force royalist power over the Truman guerillas as a form of further consignments. It was rejected by Communist-dominated political arm who insisted that King George live in exile, but the British declined. Truman and Churchill organized for a confrontation after the exchange. In 1944, attacks were performed on non-Communists and rebellions reawakened among Greek forces. King George of Greece was supported by Churchill; the British army units put down the rebellion by illustration of power and arranged right-wing officers into a royalist (Mountain Brigade). In this same year, Churchill also hunted a tactful free hand. The inadequacy of Big Three setting up for the Balkans became vital and obvious when the Russian armies got into Eastern Europe. Stalin and Churchill decided to split the Balkans into wartime fields of accountability for them to avoid unintended conflicts between the Russian and British forces (Bernhard, 241). In the 1953 spring, Senator Joseph of Wisconsin sent two individuals namely: David Schine and Roy Cohn on a promotional tour. The ending of this tour left the United States as a laughing stock of the world because the coverage of the event was unsympathetic. According to the reports by Robert Golden, the coverage of the event in the international media damaged the reputation of America than the years of the communist propaganda. Additionally, the major television network later did a gloomy coverage of the 1968 Tet-Offensive influence the opinion of the public regarding the Vietnam War. The domestic political landscape of America was mired in a stalemate when the most trusted man in America, Walter Cronkite made a propagandist statement. This statement by Walter, “U.S. was mired in a stalemate,” gave the impetus to the peace movement, and finally contributing to the withdrawal in a five year period (Bernhard, 241). The intelligence community confronted this issue through ensuring that it has covertly influenced the contours of Western cinema, art, and academia. The cultural reach of the CIA was surprisingly extensive during the Cold War. This agency not only interfered with the production of Hollywood films, but it also developed a host of purportedly self-directed organizations such as the Congress for Cultural Freedom and Museum of Modern Art. The propagandists during the Cold War ensured that the influenced every aspect to attain their self-interest (Castillo, 262). Eventually, all the actions turned out as counter-productive. In the mid-1960s when these questionable activities were unearthed, a storm protest erupted in the overseas and United States (Castillo, 262). The U.S. policy makers faced numerous challenges as a result of the unavoidable reliance of the propaganda bureaucracy. The bureaucracy was directed towards the private media-entertainment complex, which affected the success of American policy makers. This paradox was not faced by their equivalent in Moscow because they were damned if they either interfered or not. The idea that the sphere in the U.S. was critical variable barely stands the scrutiny and was not important in the clash ideas during the Cold War (Belmonte, 220). After the end of the World War II, the United States appeared to be superior in power and was not in isolation any more. The United States realized that it required playing a part in worldwide affairs and safeguarding its interests and safety through a projection of power and influence. President Harry Truman had succeeded Roosevelt. Concerning the Soviet Union, the United States realized that there was a gap of intelligence and there was little awareness concerning the internal operations of Stalin’s government (Belmonte, 220). Churchill and Truman decided early on the repression of the Soviet Union and its power in Europe was the first order of main concern. There was, however, the need to set up a consistent intelligence system within the Soviet Union and at the time only a single group was in place to cater for the desires of the United States. Immediately after the World War II, having been the foundation for American-Soviet associations the Truman Doctrine of 1947 initiated a rule of containment. The Doctrine openly confirmed the US aim to include Soviet authority outside of the boundaries (Belmonte, 220). The rules of Truman agreed with Kennan’s evaluation that determination and power could include Soviet political purposes and avoid military action. After the establishment of North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949, the Federal Republic of Germany was formed. This also faced numerous propagandas that it almost collapsed. The East German state was formed by Stalin in response while Berlin continued to be a bone of disputation for West and East. As Korea was geographically removed from Europe; it was actually a place where free persons were tested greatly by the communist governments in China and the USSR (Belmonte, 320). Between 1950 and 1953, the East and West challenged each other military. After the death of Stalin, a superior associate of the Soviet Government, Malenkov pressed the Communist side for a cease fire and peace agreement talks and the war finally died down. The re-arming of West Germany was another aspect that increased worry in the USSR about western intentions. West Germany joined North Atlantic Treaty Organization on May 1955 and the Soviets reacted right away with the set-up of the Warsaw Pact, May 14 1955. Given its own panic of Soviet retaliation, West Germany had a number of conditions for joining. German associates did not want their nation to be a war ground in any case not without considerable resistance. Despite all the above strategies employed by numerous countries, the most notable was the cinema, which was employed as the early Cold War propaganda. It is worth noting that, during the Cold War, public opinion and influence were controlled through films. This is because cinema was transformed into propaganda by both the U.S. and the Soviet Union (James, 174). Cold War produced by both the U.S and the Soviet Union tried to address various superpower conflict facets and sought to have an impact on both foreign and domestic opinion. The Soviet Union was disadvantaged because of the gap between America and the Soviet films. America utilized the cinematic achievements to affectively impact the opinion of the public in a fashion that the Soviet Union could not possibly achieve. America closed the gap caused by Soviet development of nuclear weapons and space technology by using film as an effective form to spread propaganda (Gary, 195). In fact, the widespread of propaganda by the United States transformed cinema into another battlefront of Cold War. There were no main transformations after 1956 in the Cold War splitting up of the area or in the political choices. On the contrary, the year also set up two apparent boundaries on reform. They included no confront to Soviet military security on the world stage and no challenge to domination Communist Party control at home. Generally, the Americans took the advantage of their already existing cinematic lead over the Soviet Union. They utilized movies as a way of creating the Communist enemy. This was present during early years of the Cold War, which began in the 1948 to 1953 (Gary, 195). During this period, roughly seventy explicitly anticommunist films were released. The film industry American incorporated a wide range of Cold War themes into all genres of film. This process guaranteed the Americans a lead over the Soviet film industry. Although these films barely enjoyed the zeal of for the Anti-Communist/Cold War cinema, these films served as successful propaganda tools in both USSR and United States. In conclusion, the interrelation of the U.S propaganda and other groups to the flow of power politics during the Cold War leaves little to be desired. The cinematic industry played a major role in influencing the public decision while pushing the Soviet Union a brink. The essence of the way was to ensure that war of words played it role to push the enemies further. However, the Cold War strategies remain complex to understand because the warriors expended a lot of resources to lure individuals and autonomous organizations to embrace capitalist democracy, but the U.S. diverted their efforts to the film industry to embrace communism. It is evident that the Western media industry largely subscribed to the Cold War consensus through the U.S. policy makers’ efforts. Works Cited Belmonte, Laura A. Selling the American Way: U.S. Propaganda and the Cold War. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2008. Print. Bernhard, Nancy. US Television News and Cold War Propaganda, 1947-1960. New York: Cambridge University Press, New York, 1999. Print. Castillo, Greg. “Domesticating the Cold War: Household Consumption as Propaganda in Marshall Plan Germany” pp.261-288 in Journal of Contemporary History Vol.40, No.2, April 2005 p.281-282. Critchlow, James. “Western Cold War Broadcasting” pp.168-175 in Journal of Cold War Studies Vol.1, No.3, Fall 1999. Hixson, Walter L. Parting the Curtain: Propaganda, Culture, and the Cold War. New York: St. Martins Press, 1996. Print. Rawnsley, Gary D. Cold-war Propaganda in the 1950s. New York: St. Martins Press, 1998. Print. Read More